The Wraith and the Ranger
by Captain Cruce
Summary: Vampires have attacked a Nord ranger's home, killing his wife and believing him to be dead. While teetering on the edge of Sovngarde, the ghost of a Dark Brotherhood assassin finds the ranger and intertwines with his spirit, sparing the ranger's life. Overwhelmed by grief, the ranger travels to Movarth's Lair, praying for a warrior's death. But the wraith has other plans...


The Wraith and the Ranger

Chapter One

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

A half dozen mangled bodies were strewn around him, their black blood covering him and staining his ice wolf skin cloak. His iron sword was beside him, the blade broken in the skirmish. The pain from his wounds was fading fast; they always gave way to the anguish that tormented him fervently.

He was supposed to have been granted the sweet release of death.

"Talos, please…," he prayed through unshed tears. "Let me die. Let me join my sweet Svanella in Sovngarde."

"Uh-uh-uh…naughty naughty," the voice echoed in his head, moments before the glowing form of the Imperial assassin manifested in front of him. "You know better than that, Thorimar…Talos worship has been forbidden."

"To Oblivion with your Emperor's laws!" Thorimar shouted. "I am a Nord! A true son of Skyrim!"

The apparition rolled its ghostly eyes. "A true son of Skyrim…a ranger with honor and valor…yet what did honor get for you and your beloved? Hmm?"

"You know nothing of honor, Raxos Acintius," Thorimar spat. "You continue to vex my very soul, and to what end? With this war raging on and tearing through the heart of my country, couldn't you have found one of your own kinsmen to latch onto and harass?"

Raxos scoffed. "Why Thorimar…if I didn't know better, I could assume that you were saying you didn't like me," the apparition said.

Thorimar groaned with a resigned sigh. "What could've given you that notion, pray tell?" he countered.

Raxos laughed. "Face it, Thorimar…you needed me. You still need me. Had I not intervened, there would be pieces of you strewn about instead of these Uruk-hai that were misfortunate enough to come across our path," he said with an overly dramatic wave of his right hand. "And by the way…what is this business of thinking you could walk straight into Movarth's Lair and wipe the entire clan of vampires out?"

"I went after the monsters who took my Svanella from me," Thorimar growled. "I cared not which of us came out of the cave to see the light of another day."

"NO!" Raxos protested. "No no no!" he continued, sounding more like a scolding mother than a bloodthirsty wraith. "You're not allowed to die yet! If you were, you'd have died on the night we met, laying there gargling your own blood while gasping for air and frantically trying to reach the remains of your beloved."

"I would have preferred that," Thorimar replied. "Instead, I'm stuck with an Imperial assassin who refuses to grant me an honorable death."

"Of course I won't!" the wraith said. "We're having too much fun! There's so much more to do…places to see…people to kill…dying now would be sooo boring," Raxos complained. "Besides, look at it this way. The more vampires we take out, the less chance there is that another lovely Nord couple suffers the same fate that brought us together. So, there is a bright side to all of this. You came to Movarth's Lair to die with a sword in your hand, but look at what really happened. Together, we wiped out the entire clan; vampires and thralls alike. You've gotta be proud of us. I'm proud of us…aren't you proud of us? Even a tiny little bit?"

"I understand now," Thorimar said, releasing another resigned sigh. "I've disgraced Talos in some fashion, and I am being punished for eternity for my transgressions."

Raxos shifted from Thorimar's view, and manifested right next to him with his left arm around the Nord ranger's shoulders. "Aww, come on now…it can't be that bad," he chided. "You're missing the bigger picture. See, together, we can hunt down every last undead that dares to walk Nirn's surface. With your uncanny ranger skills, combined with my advanced knowledge of magic and ways to kill things, we would be unstoppable!"

"So you're suggesting that I join the Vigilants of Stendarr," Thorimar stated.

Lightning flashed across the cloudy sky as Raxos chuckled. "Vigilants of Stendarr, my aching ass," he swore. "No…I suggest that we take a trip to Windhelm. There's a young boy by the name of Aretino that is in dire need of assistance. How's about we start there, and see where the road takes us, hmm? You're not against helping a poor innocent child who's all alone and in desperate need of a Nordic ranger's expertise, are you?"

Thorimar looked up from the ground and met the wraith's eyes. "You know I will always heed the call of a helpless and an innocent. Where is this Aretino boy?"

Raxos squealed with joy. "Oh goodie! Windhelm I told you! Come come, he doesn't have all week, step to, make way, you know the drill," the wraith said before dissipating in the coming storm's blustery wind.

Thorimar stood up from the downed log that had served as his bench. "I need to go into town before we can be off to Windhelm," he said as he tossed the broken iron blade to the ground.

"Whatever for?" Raxos inquired, his voice echoing in Thorimar's mind. "By the way, you can communicate with me via thought. I've told you this I don't know how many times. If you continue to speak aloud to me, you'll end up getting us thrown into one of the dungeons or locked away in a madhouse. Either way it will not turn out well for us."

"Fine," Thorimar thought. "There, is that better? I need a new blade, and I'll also need to pick up a good bow and a few quivers of arrows, if that's all right with you?"

"Why waste your Septims, Fire-Skinner?" Raxos replied. "I know where you can have access to both a blade and a bow that never dulls or breaks or runs out of arrows. Grab one of the Uruk-hai's bows for the time being…in fact you'll need that and one of their wickedly beautiful swords. We've got a few stops to make before we can be on the way to Windhelm."

Thorimar grumbled as he took the orcish bow in his right hand while liberating the quiver of arrows with his left. A quick pat down of the corpse revealed the location of the Uruk's coin pouch, and the ranger continued his search of the remaining five who had foolishly made an attempt on his life as he had stepped out of the cave.

A loud crash of thunder echoed off of the mountainside, and the first droplets of rain began to thud against Thorimar's shoulders as he pulled the wolf skin hood over his head and began making his way toward Morthal.


End file.
